


Renko's Bizarre Adventure: Sealed Horizon

by rlyehtaxidermist



Category: Touhou Project, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Related, Established Relationship, Gen, Not Shipping-Driven
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-09-06 15:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8758504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rlyehtaxidermist/pseuds/rlyehtaxidermist
Summary: Shortly after the Sealing Club's trip to the TORIFUNE, Maribel's condition rapidly deteriorates, seemingly caused by an extremely virulent infection. Renko's worries only strengthen when she sees spectral fissures and ribbons wrapping themselves around Maribel's back, not unlike something she'd heard in an old family story.Or: Renko's mother's maiden name was Shizuka Joestar, Sumireko was born and raised in Morioh, and a 73-year-old Jotaro is still wondering when the universe will cut him some slack.





	1. The Family History of Usami Renko (1)

"Are you sure you're alright, Merry?" Usami Renko asked, watching Maribel Hearn (Merry) as she carefully walked down the ramp from the hospital door.

Merry slowly turned her arm, showing a large bandage on the inside, just above her elbow. "Like I said, it's just a scratch." She reached Renko's side and they turned to walk along the sidewalk. "The doctors told me to avoid any heavy lifting for a few days, and it'll heal normally."

"Still, waking up with a wound from a dream..." Renko stretched her arms over her head. "It sounds ridiculous, when I say it like that." She laughed. "But doing ridiculous things is one of the best parts, don't you think?"

Merry smiled back at her. "I'm just glad you weren't hurt, too." Merry said, her voice quiet. She turned to face Renko and asked, "Can we do something a little less reckless for our next club activity?"

"Like what?" Renko asked, her face lighting up. "Did you see any new boundaries anywhere? Or maybe we could go on a treasure hunt, or-"

"Maybe something a little closer to home, this time?" Merry cut Renko off. "I don't mind travelling with you! But," Merry waved her hand towards Renko, "after all of this, I think I'd like something less exciting. Maybe we should start doing research, and plan out our next few trips? Or we could do something with what we've done so far-" Merry stopped walking and grabbed Renko's hand. "Maybe we could make a book!"

Renko paused to think. "About what? I don't want to write about the TORIFUNE so soon. What if someone went out to check on it, and they couldn't just wake up back here?"

"What about our trip to Rendaino? Even if we didn't get all the way into the Netherworld, cherry blossoms in autumn is a nice image."

"Maybe. Okay, tomorrow we can start looking over our old notes, Merry!" Renko laughed out loud, tugging Merry forward as they rounded a corner. "How should we start it out? The whole trip, or just as we enter the graveyard?"

"Well, you still haven't told me where you got that ph-" Suddenly, Merry stumbled. In an instant, Renko rushed over to her, catching her as she fell. "Thank you. Sorry, I must still be a bit sleepy." Renko helped her back up, a concerned look on her face. Merry held up her hand. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow."

"If you say so." Renko kept her eyes trained on Merry, one eyebrow slightly raised; after a moment, she relaxed. "Let's just go home. Is it strange for us to be tired after sleeping for so long?"

After they returned home, Merry fell asleep the moment she lay down.

* * * 

Renko woke to the shrill, electronic buzzing of her alarm clock. Rubbing her eyes with one hand, she stretched herself towards the source of the noise, blindly swiping at her bedside table. When her hands finally fell on the switch and silenced the noise, she slumped back down into the bed with a yawn. She mumbled "Morning, Merry" into her pillow, though it ended up sounding more like "Mrnngmrgy".

Nobody answered.

"Merry, are you still asleep?" Renko rolled over to face the other side of the bed. Sure enough, Merry was still lying on her side, eyes closed and breathing slowly. Renko nudged her shoulder lightly. "Merry, class is in an hour." Renko shook Merry's shoulder, but she didn't rouse. She suddenly felt uneasy; it wasn't uncommon for Merry to be a heavy sleeper, even after a normal day. She'd even slept through the alarm before, more than once, but Renko had always roused her easily enough.

Renko took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Merry was breathing; Renko reached for Merry's wrist and lay her fingers across it. She sat, frozen, counting every beat; Merry's pulse was racing. _Is she back on the TORIFUNE?_ Renko thought with a shudder. _If Merry is back there, and she can't wake up..._ Renko shook Merry again, more vigorously, but she just slumped back onto the bed. Renko reached for her phone, her hand shaking. _We don't have a shrine here,_ she thought, _so she couldn't be-_ the image of Merry trapped in the TORIFUNE jungle, facing down that chimaera on her own, intruded on Renko's thoughts.

Renko fumbled with her phone, hammering her fingers against the screen as she punched in three numbers. After a single ring, she heard a mechanical voice answer. "You have reached one-one-nine, ambulance services. Your location has been logged. As an ambulance is dispatched, please explain your emergency at the tone."

Renko took a deep breath. "My g-" She stopped herself with another breath. "My friend isn't waking up. She was in the hospital last night for an animal bite," thankfully, they'd already found a reasonable explanation for Merry's injury, "and they said she would be fine, but she's not..." Renko trailed off.

"We have noticed that you are no longer speaking. If you have other symptoms to describe, please do so now. Recording will be terminated in five seconds." The mechanical voice said; Renko just sat in silence, watching Merry, hoping that she'd wake up before the ambulance arrived. "Your ambulance is two minutes from your location. Your nearest place of treatment is Kyoto University Hospital. Thank you for using the automated dispatch system." With a click, the line went silent.

It was the longest two minutes of Renko's life. She knew, intellectually, that she should be standing up, getting dressed, et cetera; just as surely as she knew what she should be doing, she knew she couldn't move from her seat at the edge of the bed. Maybe it was the faint hope that whatever was wrong with Merry would vanish in the next few seconds. It was strange; Merry still didn't look sick. Were it not for the time of day, the scene could have played out a thousand times, when Merry retired early but Renko stayed up to study. Perhaps it was the familiarity of it all that was so disturbing.

Finally, a knock came at the door and Renko burst to her feet, running for the entrance to their small apartment. She pulled the door open quickly and a pair of men in white uniforms rushed through, rolling a stretcher along with them. "She's through here, in the bedroom!" Renko said, pointing them to the one open door across the living room. They pulled the stretcher up alongside the bed, Renko watching from the far side of the room. As the paramedics turned Merry to roll her onto the stretcher, Renko's eyes fell on Merry's back for the first time that day, and she immediately took a step back, stumbling into the far wall.

Merry's back was covered in a pattern of dark violet... gashes, for lack of a better word. It looked as if someone had peeled away large strips of her skin, but instead of blood, it revealed an empty void. The tears in her back were linked together by curling red ribbons, some of which vanished into Merry's back. Renko tried to move away again; the paramedic closest to her gave her a funny look. The paramedic had the same view Renko did: _Why isn't he reacting?_ Renko thought, her eyes still fixed on the thing on Merry's back. _If they can't see what's wrong with Merry, how can they treat her?_

The purple-and-red mass shifted, one of its ribbons darting towards Renko. Childhood lessons took over; she brought one arm up to defend herself, and watched a large, phantasmal satellite dish forming in the air in front of her. One step left. Pivot to the right. As Renko's body turned, the ribbon harmlessly dinged against the dish, then slowly retracted. By the time Renko's attention was back on Merry, she had been lowered onto the stretcher. "Ma'am," one of the paramedics asked, a curious look on his face, "does your friend have her insurance information covered, or-"

"I'll get it all. Can I ride with her?" The paramedic nodded, and Renko ran off to get her coat. Before, she had been nervous; now, she was frightened. She had no doubt now what it was on Merry's back, and that all the hospital could do was keep her stable. Renko hurriedly pulled on a shirt over her nightgown, and grabbed two sets of clothes from the dresser; one for her, one for Merry. _I've only seen mom's and Grandma Sumi's before; did this happen to them, too? To Grandpa Joseph?_ She quickly tossed on her shoes, rushing out after the stretcher. There wasn't much she could do for Merry now, and that infuriated her to no end, but it also frightened her.

Because as Renko had stared into the shapes twisting around Merry's back, she could have sworn she saw someone staring back.

* * * 

Halfway across the planet, in a corner office stuffed with books and a career's worth of junk, Kujo Jotaro was engaged in a pitched staring contest with his reflection in his nameplate. The setting sun lined up almost perfectly with his window, casting a harsh glare across most of the room. The building was mostly silent now, save for the sound of jangling keys as the rest of the faculty locked up their offices. He didn't have a reason to stay any later himself, other than the principle of the thing; he'd been the last to leave for years, and he wasn't about to hand that over to some upstart post-doc.

The silence was broken again, this time by a familiar chiming within his briefcase. In a moment, a blue, phantasmal hand appeared, snapping the case open and shut and drawing out a black cellular phone, which it deposited neatly in Jotaro's open hand. He held it up to his ear and pressed the button to take the call. "What?"

"Is... is Dr. Kujo there?" A girl's voice asked, in polite Japanese. She was whispering, and her voice sounded clearly nervous.

"Speaking. What is it?"

"You," the girl paused; Jotaro could hear her taking a deep breath. "Probably don't remember me, but I'm your cousin. Usami Renko."

"Usami..." He pondered the name for a moment. "Shizuka's girl?"

"Yes, sir."

"Enough with the 'sir', you're not one of my students," Jotaro said, rolling his eyes. "I haven't seen you since..." _The old man's funeral._ "...you were two or three. Why the call?" He started slowly massaging his temple. "Please don't tell me Josuke is planning another family reunion."

"No," the girl said, sounding almost dejected. "Nothing like that. My mother gave me this number, she said to call if I ever saw anything... unusual." Jotaro could hear her clearing her throat over the line. "How true is the story about when you and Grandpa saved Aunt Holly?"

That was an odd way to start the conversation. "Why?" he asked, his tone level.

"My friend." Renko said, somewhat awkwardly. "She's sick. We went to bed last night and she," her voice hitched, "She's not waking up. I was trying to wake her, and..." Her voice trailed off again. "This will sound ridiculous."

Jotaro smirked. "I've heard that before. It usually doesn't."

"It looked like there was something growing out of, or maybe in, her back." Jotaro froze in his seat. "It looks like... purple holes in her skin, except the paramedics couldn't see it. It lashed out at me, I don't know why, and it hit my Stand; it all reminded me of my mother's story, about Aunt Holly, so-"

"So you called me." Jotaro sighed. "Did anything unusual happen to her in the last few days? Any strange injuries?"

The line was silent for a long time. "You probably won't believe me, but we went to the TORIFUNE, the satellite, in a dream."

Without missing a beat, Jotaro asked, "So your Stand manipulates dreams?" He raised an eyebrow. "I always wondered if I'd run into one of those."

"No, it was Merry's power, not mine. Mine isn't that useful."

Jotaro thought for a moment. "Your friend was already a Stand user?" Renko, he'd expected. Shizuka had likely been born with her Stand, and then there was _that woman_ to think of; it wasn't unexpected that Renko had developed her own. But her friend? Stands attracted Stands, but he hadn't heard anything from the Foundation about activity in Kyoto. And, if she was already a Stand user, it shouldn't have been possible for her to react adversely to her Stand.

"I don't think so. Merry's power doesn't, or at least didn't, feel like Mom's or Grandma's." Jotaro scowled. "It was just... something she could do."

Jotaro didn't say anything to that.

"Anyway, in the dream, we were attacked by some kind of monster. A chimaera. When we woke up, Merry had a cut on her arm."

"What kind of cut? Was it clean? Did it leave a hole in her skin?" Jotaro asked, one question after another. _If there was another of those damn arrows out there..._

Renko was quiet for some time. "Yes, I think. It looked smooth, like she'd cut herself on glass or something, the doctors said she'd be fine, but-"

 _I've gone further on less._ He stared back at his nameplate, reading the words **Dr. Jotaro Kujo, professor emeritus** for the seventeenth time that day. _Not like they'd miss me around here for a few days._ He rolled his shoulders and stretched the arm that wasn't holding his phone. "Okay. I'll catch a flight out when I can. Where's she staying?"

"Thank you, so much!" The girl sighed in relief. "Merry's been taken to Kyoto University Hospital, I'm going to be there as much as I can. Call me when you get to Japan, and again, thank you!"

"I'll speak with you in a couple of days, then." Jotaro hung up, dropped his phone back into his pocket, and slumped back into his chair. He wasn't a young man anymore; while still broad-shouldered and a head taller than most of the rest of the faculty, even he had to admit he'd started to slow. Maybe this was how the old man felt when he'd called him to Morioh. At least he'd kept his wits about him, even if he had to steady himself if he wanted to kick some brat who thought it'd be funny to suggest otherwise.

He placed his hands on his desk and pushed himself upwards, stretching up to his full height. He lifted a black, calf-length coat from the back of his chair and shook it once in the air, then pulled it on an arm at a time. He slowly turned up his collar, rolling his shoulders to let the coat settle.

His eyes fell on the corner of his desk, and its constant occupant: a single black baseball cap, its back side torn away. The fabric was faded and blotchy, and the front was marked with a few holes and stretches, the legacy of a lifetime of decorative gold pins. It currently bore a gold star, a familiar golden square with an embossed open palm, and a fishhook styled to look like a "J". He carefully looked it over, then opened the drawer beneath it, removed the star and hook and tossed them in with a clatter. He rummaged through the drawer for a few moments, then finally drew out a single pin, a seal curved in a J shape, with a star-pattern ball balanced on its nose. A present from Jolyne, he recalled. He pinned it to the front of the cap, just left of the square and palm, and then finally perched the hat on his head, its faded cloth blending in against his near-white hair.

He briskly walked out of the office, turning the corner to exit the department offices. "I'm leaving," he said brusquely, not even turning to the attendant at the desk. "Family business."

"Dr. Kujo?" The woman at the desk called after him, still smiling. As Jotaro turned to face her, he saw her rattling a pair of orange pill bottles in her hand. "You forgot-"

Jotaro stared at the woman. "Did I say I needed you to be my nurse?"

"No, you didn't," the woman said, her smile not faltering for a moment, "but your daughter did."

Jotaro furrowed his brow and glared at her. She smiled back. Jotaro snorted, walked over to her, and snatched the two bottles with one hand. He looked them over once, and shoved them into his pocket as he turned away. As he walked out through the doors, he pulled his hat down over his eyes and slowly shook his head. "If the old man could see me now..." He sighed. "Give me a break."


	2. The Family History of Usami Renko (2)

Renko ignored the strange looks from the paramedics as she slipped her phone back into her pocket, and was silent for the whole trip to the hospital. The sounds of the city outside and the paramedics’ equipment filled the gap, while Renko’s eyes stayed locked on Merry’s stretcher. She couldn’t see Merry’s Stand through the stretcher, and it thankfully didn’t attack her again, but she could still feel its presence. There was something unnerving about it, a feeling in the atmosphere beyond its mere physical presence. Renko resolved to document it more carefully later, in case the different atmosphere of Merry’s Stand had something to do with her illness.

She would freely admit to not yet being an expert in medicine, or Stands, or the means by which they interacted. Admitting something was the first step to correcting it. Assuming it took a few days for her cousin to arrive, that was a few days for Renko to educate herself. Merry had always called her smart (and Renko had always wholeheartedly agreed); she’d be damned if that, at least, couldn’t help Merry somehow.

A slight bump was the first suggestion that they’d arrived at the hospital, followed by the ambulance wheeling around and reversing; Renko could see a beige brick wall and pair of double doors through the thin back window. As the vehicle came to a stop, the paramedics gestured for Renko to remain on the bench, and began adjusting Merry’s stretcher. With a few loud clicks, it detached from the floor of the vehicle; one paramedic took hold behind Merry’s head, while the other slowly backed out the doors of the ambulance, lowering the wheels of the stretcher as it reached the edge of the step.

The paramedics wheeled Merry towards the doors, beckoning for Renko to follow. She grabbed the bundle of clothes piled next to her, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the ambulance. She’d been to the hospital twice in two days, and Renko found herself wishing that even one of those times, it’d been _her_ who was sick. The hallway from the ambulance entrance didn’t look much different from the emergency room they had visited yesterday; white, sterile hallways full of regularly-spaced, numbered doors, and the occasional sign directing the reader to the nearest exit.

They came to a stop outside a large elevator. “Miss, if you don’t mind,” one of the paramedics said, “we’ll get your friend set up in her room.” He pointed down the hallway, towards a T-junction. “Just around the corner, there’s a nurse who handles emergency-room admissions. Are you able to talk with her?”

“I-” Renko paused, forced a smile, and nodded. “Of course. Thank you.” The paramedic smiled at her as the elevator doors opened; a long moment later, the doors closed, and Renko was alone.

The hospital hallways were almost eerily silent now. Renko would almost have said she missed the clamour of the paramedics’ feet, or the squeaking of the stretcher’s wheels, if it weren’t for what they represented. She tore her eyes from the elevator door and shuffled down the hallway, looking mostly at her slippers.

She ambled down the hallway; the sides of the hall were blank and featureless, and even through her slippers, the linoleum floor felt hard against her feet. A squat, stocky nurse wheeled an elderly man around a corner at the end; the two were carrying on a fast-paced conversation about some sporting event or another. Renko idly waved as the two men passed her, not making eye contact. Finally, she reached the corner herself, and looked to both sides. To her right, another hallway; to her left, the nurse’s station.

The nurse at the station was an older woman, with greying hair and a droopy face. A loosely-fitting hat sat at an angle on one side of her head. She was scribbling on something Renko couldn’t see, a slight grin on her face. As Renko walked up to the desk, she turned her head and smiled at her. “Is there something I can help you with, dear?” The old nurse turned in her chair, wheeling it towards Renko.

Renko cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. “My friend was just admitted.”

The nurse’s face instantly took on a look of concern. She peered at Renko over her large, round glasses. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, dear. Are you visiting? Did you get lost?” 

Renko shook her head. “No, it’s not that. She’s…” Renko stumbled on her words. “She won’t wake up.” The nurse’s face paled. “They told me to… come here, I suppose. Tell you what you need to know.”

“What’s your friend’s name, dear?” Renko answered, as best she could, and the nurse smiled at her. “I’m sorry, dear, but I’ll need to see some identification.”

Renko drew her wallet out of her shirt pocket and passed it over to the nurse. The nurse looked it over and smiled, mumbling something to herself. “Very well, Miss Usami,” The nurse gestured to on side, where a pair of separators blocked off part of the counter. “Take a seat, I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Renko walked over to the booth, and slowly lowered herself into a chair. The nurse slid up on the other side, a stack of papers in her hand.

“Miss Hearn’s emergency information listed a...” she squinted at the page, “great-uncle in the United States as the primary contact. We attempted to reach him, but he was unavailable.” She slid a piece of paper over to Renko. “Her secondary contact was Usami Renko.” The nurse smiled again. “Your friend must trust you a great deal.”

Renko just nodded. They’d decided to list each other during yesterday’s trip, in case something worse were to happen; today, it felt prescient. It had been Merry’s idea; Merry didn’t talk much about her family, but from what she knew, she didn’t leave much behind in America. 

“Would you like some coffee, dear?” the nurse asked, holding up a large, steel coffeepot from the shelf behind her. “It’s not very good, but you look tired.”

“No thank you.” Renko shook her head. “So...” She leaned forward on the table, shifting a foot anxiously beneath the desk. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I’m afraid there’s going to be a fair bit of paperwork, but we can help you with that. Miss Hearn doesn’t have a living will on file-” At the mention of a will, Renko’s blood ran cold. “Oh, no, dear,” the nurse said, putting her hand on top of Renko’s. “It’s nothing so grim as what you’re thinking.” Renko’s mind unhelpfully added yet. “From what I see here,” she tapped a computer monitor Renko couldn’t see, “Miss Hearn’s condition is stable. The problem is she has nobody to make medical decisions for her.”

Renko took a long, deep breath. “What does that mean?”

“Normally,” the nurse said, sliding a piece of paper over to Renko, “the people who would receive priority are parents, but Miss Hearn’s are not on file. Then other family members, and finally friends.” She smiled, handing Renko a pen. “Now-”

Renko looked down at the form and briefly read it over. “You need my permission to treat her.” The document didn’t seem too complicated, and she wouldn’t have hesitated if she was signing for herself, but...

“To start. Don’t worry,” the nurse said, concern clear on her face, “you don’t need to make any big decisions yet.”

It still felt like the weight of the world had fallen onto Renko’s shoulders.

* * *

There wasn’t too much to sign, but the nurse had been very thorough with her. If it weren’t for two others Renko spotted behind the desk, she’d have worried she was taking away time.

As long as Renko remembered, Grandma Sumi had cautioned her about using her Stand too openly; it was why normally she left it to what she could see with her eyes.

“Some things, they’ll bring trouble whether you’re looking for it or not,” she’d said, “and the last thing you want is trouble looking for you.” The time Renko remembered most, she ruffled Renko’s hair, leaned in, and whispered “It’s why I always go looking for the trouble myself. Saves it the time, and that way, I can pick the sort of trouble it is.” Then she’d winked, and slipped Renko another cookie under the table while her father wasn’t looking.

“But no matter what, once trouble’s come calling,” Grandma Sumi would say, showing Renko one of her scars or the holster hidden in her cloak, “you’ve got be ready with everything you’ve got.”

Renko wasn’t sure if trouble had come looking, or if she’d just made an incredible mistake going looking for it. Either way, it was here, and she definitely wasn’t ready.

 _No time like the present._ She took a deep breath, cast her eyes around the hall, and slowly whispered, “No Line On The Horizon.” She felt her power rush up and spread within her; at least _this_ didn’t feel out-of-practice.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her Stand’s main body forming behind her. With each spindle and satellite dish to form, she felt her senses expanding, feeding her more and more information about what she could see and hear. A map of the hospital unfolded in her mind, centred around a blue orb, representing Renko herself. In an upper floor of the building was a stationary green dot; Merry. Renko sighed in relief; she was settled, at least.

She looked around her; nobody was reacting. The nurse at the station was going over some other paperwork, and the others in the background were preparing to handle anyone else coming through the thin metal door marked “lobby”. A pale man was sitting by the entrance, his head in his hands, clearly not paying any attention to Renko or her Stand. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Renko concentrated and thought _Nearest waiting room to Merry_. She felt No Line beginning to move behind her, as the image in her mind raced through the halls and rooms of the hospital. Finally, a leaden, metallic voice mumbled back from another part of her mind.  Located. Renko felt the hospital map folding and twisting in her head, chipping away details and marking paths until it was left with a clear, direct route to a small room outlined in gold. 

She moved through the hospital at a steady pace, allowing her Stand’s directions to guide her movements. It was still only morning, but her head hung low on her shoulders, and she slumped slightly forward with each step. As she stepped into an elevator, she slumped against the handrail. For a moment, she willed her Stand to shut down; she didn’t feel any more alert. _At least that wasn’t causing a problem,_ Renko thought. She slapped herself on the cheek a few times; she could rest once she reached her destination, at least for a while. With a mumbled “No Line”, she recalled her Stand as the elevator reached her destination.

Renko stepped out of the elevator, then stopped. The new route took her through a different part of the building, despite that a quick check of Merry’s location and her destination showed they hadn’t changed. She sent another mental command at her Stand; its voice in her mind simply answered you are on the fastest route.

The hallways of the hospital blended together even more under No Line’s directions. When she reached the divergence from her earlier route, she saw a pair of heavy steel shuttered, seemingly fastened tight to the ground, blocking one end of a T-junction. The closet thing to a sign posted was a “Caution: Wet Floor” halfway down the hall. After looking the door up and down, Renko turned back to her path.

Her winding path through the rest of the hospital wasn’t too complicated, just long. She passed by a few scattered patients, doctors, and nurses out in the halls, but by and large the floor seemed empty. Most of the rooms were closed patient quarters; she passed one nurse’s station, where a cheery-faced man with a _very_ large coffee cup in his hand had offered her directions. Finding the waiting room wasn’t too hard once she approached it; unlike the sterile-white walls of the rest of the building, it had beige wallpaper with an ivy pattern, and was filled with an eclectic arrangement of chairs and tables. Renko found a moderately-sized armchair in one corner of the room and collapsed into it, letting No Line float into the middle of the room behind her.

“What the hell?” someone in the hall outside yelled, “Hey, hey, hold up, doc.” Renko jolted up in her seat, dismissing No Line on reflex. A young man in a stretcher peered into the waiting room curiously, looking back and forth. After a few moments he shrugged, and the older orderly pushed him past the door. In the distance, could hear the younger man loudly asking “Hey, you didn’t see some floating space station thing, did you?”

If the orderly responded, it didn’t reach Renko’s ears. She collapsed into the armchair, allowing herself to close her eyes for a moment. Merry would be fine, she told herself; there was nothing to worry about. She stretched and yawned, settling into the chair. It was her first moment of rest in a hectic morning, and she knew she needed it.

She had a lot to do. Even if Merry woke up before visiting hours officially started, Renko would still have a lot of things to explain; including a lot of things she didn’t understand herself. Grandma Sumi’s advice had been a good excuse to never dig deeper into how her power worked. The Sealing Club was working up to it, she’d told herself with every case; now she just wished they’d worked up faster. First, she thought, she’d have to explain to Merry what she saw every time Renko used her –

Realisation hit.

Renko scrambled for her cell phone, hammering her fingers against the screen to find Dr. Kujo’s contact entry again. She held the phone closely to her ear, holding her breath as it rang.

Finally, a gruff voice anwered. “Usami? What’s going on?”

Renko bit down on her lip, then answered. “There’s another patient in the hospital. I’m not certain, but I believe he saw my Stand.”

A long silence followed.

“Of _course_ there was.” He took a long, loud breath, then sighed. “Our damn family can’t stub a toe without falling onto some conspiracy.” Renko could practically _hear_ him shaking his head on the other end of the line. “There’s a Speedwagon Foundation plane leaving Orlando tonight. Are you in danger?”

“I don’t think so.” The man had sounded pretty confused, and he _was_ in a hospital stretcher. “At least, I don’t think he knew I was the user.”

“Keep it that way.” Dr. Kujo’s voice had a hard edge to it.

Renko gulped. “I’ll try.”

“Good. I should be in Kyoto around 3 AM tomorrow.” Dr. Kujo paused. “I have another call.”

“Of course,” Renko said. “I’ll tell you if anything changes.” She moved to hang up, but then pulled the phone back to her head. “Oh! Can you send me anything you can about...” Renko searched for a word, and settled on “everything going on here? I… I need to know, in case anything will help.”

“I’ll pass it on.”

The phone beeped as the line cut out. Renko let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and fell back into the stiff waiting room armchair.

One day. Dr. Kujo wouldn’t be coming, let alone so quickly, if he didn’t have _some_ idea of how to help. If there _was_ something going on, she and Merry just needed to stay clear of it until then.

 _Unless they already know about Merry,_ whispered some conspiratorial voice in her mind.

Renko sat bolt upright, No Line forming in the air in front of her. The map of the hospital appeared in her mind again, and Renko directed her Stand’s body in the direction of Mery’s room. It slowly floated on its way, even if it had to fold in some of its antennae and panels to fit through the door; Renko felt a second set of eyes opening in the back of her mind, showing No Line’s perspective.

She might not be able to go watch over Merry herself, but if any of the staff knew to tell No Line to leave Merry alone, they all had bigger problems. As Merry’s bed entered her second view, Renko’s phone chimed with a new message, from a Speedwagon Foundation account.

She almost smiled as she opened the first attachment.

It was time to get to work.

* * *

Maribel Hearn dreamed of a world she had never seen.

It was not the first time. In fact, it felt surprisingly routine.

She was standing in a forest of tall, bare trees. Branches like spider’s legs stretched out into the sky, seemingly plucking stars from the heavens. There was no moon in the sky, and no shadows could stand out from the night on the moist, loamy earth beneath her bare feet. In the distance, she could hear the sound of panicked footsteps, running through the underbrush, but she could not tell from where they came, or where they could be going. In every direction, the forest seemed the same.

Perhaps, she thought, she had stumbled into someone else’s nightmare. This, too, was not a new thought to her. Though something about the world told her it was _wrong_ , she still felt at home here.

Was it possible for unfamiliarity to become familiar?

Certainly, what was once unfamiliar could become familiar. Renko, their Sealing Club activities, Kyoto University, Japan at large; her life had countless examples. Likewise, what was once familiar can become unfamiliar; Maribel doubted she would even recognise her parents if she met one of them on the street. 

But the very state of unfamiliarity: were it to become familiar, would it then be unfamiliar to see a familiar face? Would one be stranded in a world where everything was almost as they remembered it, but subtly and imperceptibly _wrong_? Or would things be left completely different, with names and faces prompting slight recollection, but of a life completely alien to the one they lead?

She was walking through the forest, now. The footsteps were gone now, leaving only the soft squelching of her feet against the soft soil and moss between the trees. As she walked, the trees grew closer together, and soon she could not feel soil beneath her feet at all; she walked on a path made of moss and roots, leading further into the forest.

Finally, she reached what she just learned she had always known was her destination. A great tree, stretching to the sky, ink-black sap oozing from its base like blood. A single cherry blossom bloomed atop it, shining a bright pink despite the dark night. As Maribel looked at it, the blossom fell, its light revealing the twisted patterns along the sides of the tree. It fell onto the roots and dissolved into ash, casting the clearing again into darkness.

Maribel stumbled backwards, away from the tree. As she nearly tripped on a root, she looked up again; the sky was like an animated oil painting, now. Streaks of violet and ochre streamed out of pinprick stars, twisting as the sky rotated, the great tree in the clearing as its axis. More and more twisting branches rose out of the forest, tearing cracks into the sky. The central tree stood still, growing larger and larger before her eyes.

The last branch closed around the last star, and the night was nothing but black.

There was silence in the forest.

Maribel Hearn dreamed, but she did not wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renko's Stand is named in reference to [a U2 album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Line_on_the_Horizon) and [its title track](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icr1S6FpORA). (Shizuha Joestar's Stand in canon is named for [a different U2 album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtung_Baby).)
> 
> This should be the end of the "introduction" arc, with a few dominoes in place. Until next time,  
> <=TO BE CONTINUED==

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting something for public consumption, so I'm sorry if it's rough around the edges. I've been out of touch with all the fellows who might help me be a bit less rubbish.
> 
> There's a few things I'd like to address here:
> 
>   * This isn't going to be a primarily-shippy fic, although there's established RenMerry. If you're just here for romance I can recommend numerous, far better writers on this site and elsewhere.
>   * In consideration for the various anime-only people, including the person who gave me the idea for this fic, I'm going to try and keep JoJo spoilers to a minimum. However (and I'll put this in chapter notes when I get there) I do intend to address the ending of Stone Ocean, so beware.
>   * There will be some original characters here, but purely in a "stand-of-the-week" sort of sense. I do have plans for several other canon characters.
> 

> 
> I don't have much else to say other than a panicked "oh god what the fuck am I doing" so I'll leave you with a friendly  
> <=TO BE CONTINUED==


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